{"id":551,"date":"2023-12-12T21:56:18","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T21:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progressmo.com\/?p=551"},"modified":"2023-12-12T21:56:18","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T21:56:18","slug":"release-missouri-minimum-wage-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/2023\/12\/12\/release-missouri-minimum-wage-not-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"RELEASE: Data Shows Missouri Minimum Wage Isn’t Enough For Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Hands<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong>
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Contact: kelli@progressmo.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numerical and anecdotal data make it clear \u2013 $12 isn\u2019t cutting it<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Columbia, MO<\/em> – Missouri workers are struggling to make ends meet on the $12 minimum wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c$12 an hour simply doesn\u2019t cut it when it comes to trying to meet my family\u2019s needs,\u201d<\/em> said Kaamilya Hobbs, an Arby\u2019s employee from Kansas City. \u201cI gave birth to my second child in September, and while I should\u2019ve been focused on my health as a high-risk pregnant woman, my boyfriend and I were scrambling to find another place to live because we got evicted by a slumlord who didn\u2019t care about us. No one should have to struggle to pay for food, medical bills, clothing, and other needs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evidence isn\u2019t purely anecdotal. According to the Economic Policy Institute<\/a>, a single-person household in the Kansas City metropolitan area needs an annual income of $37,214 to afford a \u201cmodest yet adequate standard of living.\u201d<\/strong> For comparison, a full-time employee making $12 an hour \u2013 and taking no sick days or vacations for a full year \u2013 would only clear $24,960.<\/strong> For a family of four like Hobbs\u2019, child care, housing and food costs drastically inflate that number: two adults and two kids would require an annual income of $85,544 for the same \u201cmodest yet adequate standard of living.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshots<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the other side of the state, living costs are slightly lower, but still high enough to keep minimum wage earners out of an \u201cadequate\u201d standard of living. The EPI reports a single-person household in the St. Louis metropolitan area would need an annual income of $35,144 and a family of four would need $80,992 to maintain an adequate standard of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshots<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To make matters worse, the EPI\u2019s calculator uses data from 2020. Nearly four years later, costs have gone up. For example, EPI allocates $731 a month for rent in Kansas City, but a December 2023 report says median rent in the city is $997<\/a> \u2013 and that\u2019s a decrease from November 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Missouri plans to increase the minimum wage to $12.30 in 2024<\/a>, the change will only increase a single-person\u2019s annual income to $25,584, still nearly $10,000 short of EPI\u2019s lowest estimated necessary income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numerical and anecdotal data make it clear \u2013 $12 an hour isn\u2019t cutting it for Missouri workers making minimum wage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,26,40,47,48,54,68,73,89],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-earning","tag-hourly","tag-legislature","tag-minimum-wage","tag-missouri","tag-paycheck","tag-salary","tag-senate","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallant-mclaren.18-188-198-158.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}